Whales
by Onion Bay
Summary: Alice is depressed at the Clover Tower, but Gray comes to comfort her.  GrayXAlice


When I first opened my eyes that morning, I was already in the land of Clover. The person I always met when I got out of my bed was Julius. His ever impassive expression on his face always made me feel at ease. I would have fixed him a breakfast and a cup of coffee hoping to get a perfect score this time, but that is all gone.

Instead of seeing mountains of poor broken clocks and a figure of the pleasant mortician, I see crowds of workmen and green texture of clover designs everywhere. Instead of hearing the soothing sound of clocks ticking, I hear the dull voices of people calling to each other.

What am I to do, when I finally found a home and a heartwarming family member to be suddenly snatched away?

Here I am working my way off to do some work in the Clover tower, but this can only be a temporary way to get my mind off about Julius. After my shift is done I can only think about the Clock Tower. Oh why didn't I stay with Julius? I know my eyes started to fill with tears, but I cannot afford to cry. If I cry I would just collapse and sink into my own misery.

Just then I felt a light tap on my shoulders. I try to dry off the moisture in my eyes and turn around to look up who is behind me. There I see Gray Ringmarc showing his worried expression. "Alice, are you okay? You can always rest if you don't feel well."

I work myself to give a fake smile, "I am okay Gray. Don't worry about me. I can handle myself."

I tried to turn away and continue my work, but Gray held my wrist. "How can I afford to continue working when I see one of my employees so sad?"

"Gra-" Just when I was about to call his name, he pulled me up towards the stair case and to the top of the tower.

He guided me to the balcony and said with a gentle voice "Look towards the forest Alice."

I did as he instructed me and widened my eyes at the scene. "Whale?"

Gray nodded his head and spoke with dreamy eyes, "At this time of season the land is still not stable so you can see whales swimming through the forest."

I marveled at the sight. Instead of breaking through the trees, the whales looked like they were weaving through them.

After a few moments of silence, Gray suddenly turned his body towards and spoke with rich baritone voice, "I wanted to show you this because I always loved this scenery. I want to make you happy or at least feel at ease. I don't care even if you see me as merely a replacement of the mortician, just please don't leave this place and go somewhere I don't know."

The tall dark haired man hugged me gently, but with a strong grip. He must have been tired from his work, but I cannot sense him being worn-out at all with his strong muscular body. I can smell his cigarette and the faint smell of coffee. The smell of coffee indeed reminded me of Julius, but there was something else from this man that differed from Julius. I snuggled to him feeling a sort of comfort from this position and whispered, "You are not a replacement of Julius. You are you and Julius is Julius."

Realizing the situation we are in Gray began blushing and mumbled an apology and quickly pulled away from me. "Just to let you know if you have any problems you can always rely on me. I may not be much of a great help though." He then brought out a stuffed animal handed towards me, "I heard that you like cute things so I thought maybe you would like this."

I was about to say thanks and question how he knew about my likings when Nightmare suddenly jumped on me. "Hya-!"

"He knows your liking because he also has the same interest as you Alice."

I looked up at the pale faced guy and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Just what I said, he likes cute stuffs too." I raised an eyebrow. That Gray likes cute stuff?

Gray blushed and lost its usual stoic composure, "Nightmare-sama!"

"This is the payback for leaving me all alone! It is certainly not fair that you two are cruising around while **I** am doing my work." Nightmare pouted and accused the nonsense towards his assistant.

The assistant coughed a few times and regained his equanimity and apologized, "I am sorry Nightmare-sama, we were just out for a breather, but since you insist on doing your work then we should get straight on with it while you have the spirit."

"What! Wait! I never said we need to continue working. Please just give me some breathers too. You think so too right, Alice?" Nightmare suddenly became panicked at his assistant's words and turned to me as if he hopes that I would save him from the torture, but I wasn't that kind to him.

"Sorry Nightmare, but I think you should do what Gray says until you actually **do **some work."

I watched them as Gray dragged Nightmare to his work room until Gray suddenly turned toward me, "So Alice while Nightmare and I am working why don't you just have a cup of coffee to keep us in company." I blinked at him and took a few minutes to consider and smiled, "Yes please." This life may be ok after all.


End file.
